the original and the best…

A storm is coming.

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Welcome to The Beer Channel.

Our mission is to provide you with quality information through news, interviews, and other media regarding the wonderful and exciting world of brewmasters and craft brewing.

We do on-location filming, advertising, networking, and merchandising for breweries, brewmasters, and homebrew hobbyists. Currently, we have two distinct shows in production – Have Beer, Will Travel, and Bru Appetit. As they are edited we will be placing them here on the site and on public broadcasting. Feel free to drop us a line and check back frequently for new video content.

Questions? Wanna get involved?

contact us at : thebeerchannel@gmail.com

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Here we go…

So we have decided to release, exclusively on the site, some of the interviews prior to releasing the entire show. We really want to spotlight the brewers here, and, why wait? Check out the Brewmaster Spotlight link to watch what we got.

People. Places. Passion.

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Interviews from outside The Short Pour Film Festival -

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Hop Headlines -

articles of relevence – some ours and some we felt that were worth mentioning from other sources.

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Prohibition killed brewery

story from The Augusta Chronicle

They say one of the most distinctive scents of Augusta in the early 1900s was the smell of beer brewing at the famous Augusta Brewing Co., known for its Belle of Georgia brand.

The brewery owed its existence to Patrick Walsh, who was editor and/or president of The Augusta Chroniclefrom 1873-99 and one of the community’s biggest civic boosters.

As it happened, “a few gentlemen, wishing to build a brewery in the South, after visiting a few cities finally came to Augusta where they met the late Mr. Walsh, who since has served his city in the United States Senate and as mayor.” This was the lead paragraph about the brewery in 100 Years of Brewing, published in 1903, four years after Walsh’s death.

Brothers-in-law August J. Schweers, a Cincinnati native, and Edward W. Herman, of Louisville, Ky., likely were among those who met with Walsh in the mid-1880s.

On July 8, 1888, The Chroniclereported that “the brewery will be located near Clark’s Flouring Mill.” The next day, a headline noted “Mr. Herman About to Begin Work Upon a $50,000 Brewery Plant.”

Augusta officials had begun work on the city’s first National Exposition when preliminary construction began on the brewery.

The brewery opened its doors Feb. 7, 1889, at McKinne (13th), Fenwick and Nelson streets. The telephone number was 5.

In 1896, bold white letters more than 10 feet high spelled out “Belle of Georgia,” which was to become the company’s flagship brew. Other brands such as “Dixie” and “Belle of Carolina” followed, but Belle of Georgia was on everyone’s lips, or else trickling down thirsty throats.

During 1905, the brewery expanded into the soft drink field by organizing its subsidiary, Dixie Carbonating Co., which became the first Pepsi Cola franchise-holder and bottler in Augusta. Pepsi Cola Co. had been founded in 1902 in New Bern, N.C. Upper Ten and Hires’ Root Beer also was bottled by the company.

A harbinger of things took place in 1907 when the Georgia Legislature passed a prohibition bill. The law took effect Jan. 1, 1908, and prohibited sale or manufacture of liquors in Georgia.

Business looked bleak for the brewery, but Herman decided to try and weather the storm. The company renewed its charter and two trademarks were registered: A.B.C. birch beer, a nonalcoholic, carbonated beverage, and “PROHI,” a nonintoxicating, nonalcoholic beverage.

In 1916, Augusta Brewing Co. was forced to change its name to The Augusta Ice & Beverage Co. to comply with Georgia law. Plans were announced to spend $10,000 to remodel the $500,000 plant to make nonalcoholic beverages. But Prohibition, which was to blanket the nation through passage of the Volstead Act in 1919, proved to be too tough a foe for the company. A petition for bankruptcy was filed March 5, 1921. Assets were listed as $117,414.45 against liabilities of $194,994.08.

The old brewery was torn down in 1964.

story: http://tinyurl.com/2frv7r9

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Events (aside from GABF)

Telluride Blues and Brews Festival

the most majestic and under-rated brewfest in the U.S.

The 17th Annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival

will be held September 17, 18, & 19, 2010

Let’s see… where to begin???

How about breweries?

OK, cool. What else?

(the TBA has just been confirmed as Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks.)

just to name a few. And, oh, yeah… This:

So, while you’re doing this at GABF again:

We’ll be staying here:

It’s just so much more relaxing. That’s what it’s about, right??

Cheers!!

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Friends and Fellow Craft Beer Enthusiasts…

We’d love to post your stories. Please contact us if you have anything you’d like to share.

thebeerchannel@gmail.com

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Here’s another fantastic review from Kristina Van Doorn (aka @hopmonkey)!!

She can be reached at:

www.Twitter.com/hopmonkey

Go Sailing with Full Sail Brewing Session Black:

If your Summer beer selection tends to be the color of the sun and garnished with fruit, it’s time to live on the edge! Yes, that’s right, I’m actually suggesting a very, very black beer for your Summer 2010.  In fact, I’d go so far to say that this beer should probably be a regular staple in your fridge, kegerator or cooler. Full Sail Brewing Session Black (Twitter.com/FullSailBrewing).

Now, if you happen to follow me on Twitter at @HopMonkey, then you know that I usually talk about beers that give me a big kick in the shorts. The more hops, the better for this gal (you don’t call yourself Hop Monkey because you sit around drinking lagers all day). So, this is a rare play on my part to actually write about a lager. To me, lagers are typically rather ho-hum beers that rarely excite me, but this…this beer is different.

Ok, so maybe the Full Sail Session Black hits a soft spot. After all, I’ve a mere 5’ 2” and this cute, stubby little bottle leaped off the shelf in my hands as if we had a special connection and we were meant to have good times together. My day job is also in marketing so anytime I see products differentiating themselves, they score big with me.

Now, on to the taste. This is absolutely a top-notch lager – the way a lager SHOULD taste. Sure, the flavors are subtle, but boy are they there. You’d think this beer was brewed at your local brewery that has no mass distribution. I especially love the chocolate notes and the smooth finish. Simply put, this is not a one-and-done kind of beer. Session Black is extremely drinkable and not heavy so you can drink one right after the other. And, at 5.4% ABV, that’ll make for a good Summer evening.

In case you need one more reason to pick-up a case of this brew, simply pop off the cap. Each cap is denoted with a rock, paper or scissor allowing for endless hours of fun with your friends (ok, maybe not hours).

I should also mention that this was a Gold Medal Winner at the 2009 GABF.

Bios:

Kristina (@hopmonkey) is a digital/social media marketer who believes life and beer should be full of hops and monkeying around.

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follow us on Twitter @ twitter.com/thebeerchannel

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There are hundreds of videos contained in the viewer to the left. If you wanna see more than click the blue arrow at the bottom. We’ve got commercials, how-to videos, weird stuff, whatever. Don’t be shy.

The Brew Review

Here it comes – The Beer Channel puttin’ things in perspective . TBC’s own Nathan Moya digs deep into the souls of our favorites and brings ‘em to ya on the real.

Nathan Moya is a professional ghostwriter and editor devoted to drinking extraordinary beer. You can contact him at: abecedarianly@gmail.com .

Or you can check out Beat The Pulp Writing, his ghostwriting and editing blog: http://beatthepulpwriting.wordpress.com/.

Follow him on Twitter!! http://www.twitter.com/beatthepulp

Beer hopes to hear from him. And he from you. Cheers.

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Into The Age of Empire…

My second favorite part of drinking beers made by Stone is reading the witty stories they adorn their bottles with. I hardly remember them; usually they vanish from my mind soon after I’ve scanned the letters. Yet the story on Stone’s 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA has become relevant to life—relevant because like the brewer and brewmaster at Stone, this beer inspired a journey.

Theirs was a journey to England in search for the “true” roots of IPA. In their words, their success “is open to debate.” Nevertheless, they succeeded with the Emperial IPA. Except for the water, all the ingredients are imported from abroad—white malts, East Kent Golding, Target, and Boadicea hops, as well as a rare yeast strain. Stone also “Burtonised” the water, a technique that grew out of the natural conditions of brewing beer in the early 19th century. I had never heard of “Burtonised” water before, so I had to look it up—and thus began my journey.

In the town Burton upon Trent (what a name!), a brewer named Samuel Allsopp began copying the popular English pale ale recipe. Although his beers were copies, his beers were noted for their prominent hop bitterness and aromas. The reason was because the water in Burton upon Trent is rich in sulphate, and sulphate intensifies hop bitterness. Today, brewers (like Stone) add sulphate to water, thus “Burtonising” the water, and strengthening hop characteristics.

Yet, there was something else that eluded me: the Boadicea hops. I had never heard of them either. So my journey wasn’t done.

During my search for Boadicea hops I stumbled upon a surprise: a former Briton named Boadicea who lead a rebellion against the Roman Empire in 60 or 61 A.D. What lead up to the rebellion were the violent actions of the Roman Empire.

Before becoming rebel leader, Boadicea was the queen to Prasutagus, ruler of the Iceni Celtic tribe. The kingdom was nominally independent from Rome, and in his will Prasutagus stated that the kingdom should be split between his two daughters and the Romans. In effect, it would keep the kingdom in his lineage.

Unfortunately, for him and his family, the Romans made the laws. See, Roman law stated that inheritance traveled down the male line, not the female line. Being deprived of phallic necessities, his daughters’ property rights were usurped. Furthermore, Roman law stated that any nominally independent kingdom would come under complete Roman governance after the king died. And that’s what happened. Even more, the Romans added the proverbial violence to kingdom acquisition, raping the daughters, and flogging Boadicea, the beautiful wife.

This did not go over well with Boadicea and the Icenis. So they formed a coalition with the neighboring Trinovantes tribe, and began destroying cities, turning them into violent conflagrations. The first was Camulodunum, then Londinium, and lastly Verulamium. Estimates range from 70,000-80,000 victims during their rapid campaign.

Unfortunately, for the pissed off Britions, the Roman army proved too disciplined and skilled. In the Battle of Watling Street, the Romans made bangers and mash of the Britons, killing 80,000 while suffering a mere 400 casualties.

But, guess what? I eventually found out what Boadicea hops are. It’s a new strain of hops developed by the UK Hops Research Institute (did you know such a things exists?!), and as of 2007, Boadicea is the world’s only aphid resistant hop. Consequently, the survival rate for the hop is extremely high, and it’s popular with organic brewers, because it can be grown without pesticides.

All this information may seem extraneous, but it’s not. Stone’s EPA is so unique that I had to find what makes the beer so damn good. Before the sweet malts and bitter hops ever reached my tongue I had never heard of Boadicea the rebel leader or Boadicea the hop; or “Burtonised” water or the Battle of Watling Street. Again, it was a journey through knowledge. Even more, figuring out how to weave all this information into a coherent narrative in just a few paragraphs required its own particular journey—or mental gymnastics. Funny enough, Boadicea means “victory,” and after the fruits of my labor have finally ended, I feel utterly victorious. Now, I leave you with a poem (beware, I don’t read poetry!).

Ode to Boadicea, The Hop and Violent Fox

Oh, Boadicea, you valorous fox,

betwixt death and life you fought,

conflagration thou didst sparked.

Now in spirit but form thou not,

growing forth from trellised vines,

leaved and green you pungent hop.

Pour and Color:

As a resident of these United States, I’m always struck by how “sophisticated” English accents sound. My English mate might yell, “piss on the toffee crumpet,” but it would sound pleasant—like I learned something. Likewise, everything about Stone’s EPA rings of nobility when poured. The “Englishness” embeds “ultra-sophistication” into the beer, and it pours incomprehensibly soft. Fluffy, 2-finger head, full of fruity aroma, that eventually subsides to a delicate white film; beautiful and cloudy color of wheat and orange, much like a wheat beer but thicker and full of pride. In fact, the appearance is everything a day in London full of soupy fog is not: bright and invigorating!

Smell:

This is perhaps my favorite part of Stone’s EPA. The initial scents are FRUITY, FRUITY, and FRUITY! Grapefruit, orange rind, and blackberries, too. These are further enhanced by the sharpness and sparkly character of the carbonation. The East Kent Golding hops provide earthy, spicy, and floral complexity, and the valorous Boadicea hops add richness to the spiciness. In fact, the EPA reminded me of Belgian style ales because of its rich spices and fruits.

Taste:

This is when the malts start to take up space. They are sweet and have a stronger sugar quality to them than malts in West Coast IPAs. And I don’t know if this is insult or praise, but after a few drinks the malts began to taste like pina colada. This probably has something to do with the spice from the Golding and Boadicea hops, which, when combined with sweetness, produce the pina colada flavor. But it’s not overwhelming or disgusting. After all, I hate pina colada, and I love this beer. And, of course, the beer is bitter, hoppy, and spicy. Yet, it’s well balanced—the malts take up space first, then give way to strong, dry bitterness. Overall, the complexity of the beer is mellowed out by the dryness at the end.

In Palatum:

Honestly, this part of the EPA experience is kind of strange. I don’t want to call it bad or good, but simply strange and nebulous. To start, carbonation is medium to high on the tongue, but then it quickly changes into a thick, sticky, and slimy texture. That texture then dissipates quickly, and is overcome by overt dryness. I love how dry the beer is, because it acts as a cleanser for the next taste. But—and this is where it felt really strange—the slimy texture reappears all down my esophagus and into my stomach, leaving the entire middle of my torso with a viscous feeling. That feeling then travelled up into my head. The closest comparison: taking a shot of tequila. You feel the shot more than you taste it. But EPA doesn’t burn or feel high in alcohol content. Even at 8.9% ABV the alcohol sits in the background. What feels strange, then, is the conflict between complex flavors and an intense physical reaction.

Finis:

Overall this beer is delicious and nutritious (nutritional value not verified by the FDA). I liked drinking an IPA that wasn’t a west coast IPA, and in style is probably a progenitor to west coast IPAs.  It deserves the “Emperial” designation because it takes over your entire body, yet it’s easy to drink because you never taste the alcohol. So beware, it sneaks up on you. Enjoy with food, something along the lines of fish or chicken, definitely nothing spicy. Last night I made stuffed flank steak with goat cheese, mushrooms, garlic, and spinach. This beer would have been brilliant with that dinner. I guess I’ll have to try that. Make sure to try this beer, though, it was a great experiment on Stone’s part.

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Port Brewing Company – San Marcos, CA.

The Tao of All Ales

a review of Old Viscosity Ale from Port Brewing Company

by Nate Moya.

PROBLEM: You, the reader, come to this location to learn about something, trusting in my abilities to communicate to you, the reader, concrete qualities and perceptions regarding a beverage we both enjoy: BEER. But there is an important problem that I’ve run in to:

I want to tell you about Old Viscosity Ale. Yet, after drinking the beer I seem to lack the linguistic skills to do such a thing.

SOLUTION: The Tao Te Ching.

YOUR RESPONSE(S): “Hmm?” “Are you still drunk?” “The book about Winnie the Pooh?”

ENTER THE TAO: Chapter 1, translated in terms of Old Viscosity Ale.

“The Old Viscosity that can be told is not the eternal Old Viscosity
The Viscosity that can be named is not the eternal Viscosity
The Viscosity-less is the beginning of heaven and earth
The Viscosity is the mother of ten thousand things
Ever Viscosity-less, one can see the mystery
Ever Viscosit-ing, one sees the manifestations
These two spring from the same source but differ in name;
this appears as darkness
Darkness within darkness
The gate to all mystery”

INTERPRETATIO:

This beer is mysterious. It eludes a name. It is ineffable. Try to describe one flavor, and you lose it when another appears. Describe one scent and it morphs into another. Old Viscosity is dark: it is the gate to my confusion. All colors, flavors, and scents arise out of the darkness, but remain unnamed.

ENTER THE TAO: Chapter 21, translated in terms of Old Viscosity Ale.

“The Viscosity is elusive and intangible
Oh, it is intangible and elusive, and yet within is image
Oh, it is elusive and intangible, and yet within is form
Oh, it is dim and dark, and yet within is essence
This essence is very real, and therein lies faith
From the very beginning until now its names have never been forgotten”

INTERPRETATIO:

Drink beer. Especially this beer.

Pour and Color:

I poured this straight from the refrigerator into a pint glass, with a vertical, semi-aggressive pour. Not much head accumulated, about a finger’s worth that quickly dissipated and left a caramel brown haze.  Oh, but watching the beer escape the bottle was fantastic! As the oil reference on the bottle suggests, the bottle looked like an old truck’s profusely leaky oil pan. Oil, Oil, Everywhere—luckily in my glass! And yes, the color is dark and opaque and all those fancy superlatives. But as the above suggests: it is mysterious. I am entirely baffled by its complete impenetrability. A chastity belt protecting itself from light!

Smell:

Hmm, hmm, hmm? Where to begin? Where to end? Everywhere I suppose, because everything hits the nose. Liquid and mellow roasted malts, cocoa and espresso, woody, woody, woody (Oak Barrels!), and bitter hops hiding underneath. The malts are most prevalent but they aren’t obtrusive. What I like best about the mix of smells is that when you pick out a certain smell, and you begin to concentrate on it, it quickly dissolves into another smell. And the best part: the lump of aroma that travels through my nose into the back of my throat!

Taste:

A transformation of the above scent into aqueous oblivion: very malty, a little sweet, and I love how the hops take up space. They’re like an old scar or mole you barely notice, maybe once a month, but it makes you utterly happy and nostalgic because you got that scar fighting off the bully in 3rd grade, and if the scar were to disappear you’d lose an essential part of your childhood. That’s how the hops function in this beer. They’re inconspicuous but essential. And the alcohol is quite the same. At A.B.V. 10.5% you cannot ignore the alcohol, but the flavors do a wonderful job of hiding the alcohol, making this perhaps one of the easiest to drink, high-content beers I’ve ever had.

In Palatum:

Initially this beer is sharp on the tongue; the carbonation, although mild, awakens your entire face. Quickly this fades away and the thick viscosity permeates the mouth, leaving a wonderful, almost sticky coating. But again this too quickly dissolves, finally leaving a soft, luminous sheen, with slight dryness on the tongue.

Drinkability:

Like I said, this is an easy-to-drink, high alcohol content beer. The flavors hide the alcohol so well that you can drink and drink and drink before you realize you’re drunk and drunk and drunk—or quite tipsy. I read a review for this beer that said respect it, and that is my advice, too. It’s sneaky.

Finis:

I drank this beer after dinner, and it seems like other reviewers have taken the same route: a nice after-dinner beer. One person made an Old Viscosity float with cookies n’ cream, which is brilliant and I’m sure delicious. But dessert seems to fit this beer quite well, rather than a full-fledged dinner. I would be especially wary of drinking this with spicy foods. But do drink Old Viscosity.

Finis, Finis: The Tao, chapter 41, translated in terms of Old Viscosity Ale.

“The greatest form has no shape
True Viscosity is hidden without name
True Viscosity alone nourishes and brings everything to fulfillment.”

Port Brewing can be reached here:

http://www.portbrewing.com/

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Beer and Geography

Lagunitas Brewing Company – Petaluma, CA.

http://www.lagunitas.com/

Beer and Geography. I never think about them simultaneously, but maybe because it’s difficult for me to multitask. I don’t know. Do they have a relationship, though? The answer calling to me is no. Can’t think of one, and, even now, I still can’t think of one. But for the moment, let’s abandon rationality, relevance, coherency, and reasonable guesses. Just trust me, okay.

So, Nicolas Steno. Ever hear of him? Me neither. Not until I was made comatose by Lagunitas’ Hop Stoopid.  Don’t go looking for his name on the Lagunitas website, or on the bottle, or some secret document being passed around by a covert, underground group of beer enthusiasts (do those even exist?). Steno was a Danish anatomist and geographer, and he’s hailed as the “father of geography.” See the connection now? Come on, Stoopid.

Well, he developed a principle called The Principle of Original Horizontality. Here’s the basic idea: wait for it… wait for it…; “layers of sediment are originally deposited horizontally.” Bring out the kettle-drums and cymbals! Damn, that was exhilarating. Okay… I know. It’s not that exciting. However, did you notice? Look at the letters. “H” for Horizontality. “O” for original. “P” for principle. What do those letters spell? HOP! As in Hop(s), Stoopid. If you want to tell me you didn’t see that coming, well, then, you’re pretty stoopid.

Here’s another factoid, guys: In 1988, Pope John Paul II canonized Nicolas Steno. The father of geography got the gold medal for Catholicism: for digging in the dirt, Steno’s a saint. Who knows, maybe Hop Stoopid will be canonized? This beer makes playing in the dirt more fun; after you’ve finished it, that is. And you thought beer had nothing to do with geography. Think, Stoopid.

Pour and Color:

The beer hopped right out of its bottle (yea, puns!); almost bit my lip… I gave the contents a close-to-vertical poor to see what kind of head I could get from it. I wasn’t let down. A beautiful, big, fluffy, cumulus cloud two-finger head developed, and, over the course of five minutes, it relaxed into a subtle white film. The color was slightly darker than honey, but when I held it up to the light I could see through the beer just fine. It was a strange but pleasant balance of strong color and transparency.

Smell:

Think smelly, stanky dank. Yep, the greenest dank you’ve ever smelled. Now, multiply that by The Principle of Original Horizontality. Now we’re getting closer. I almost wanted to roll the beer, not drink it. The smell is green, fresh, flowery, and moist. It makes me feel like I’m in a wet forest of Redwood trees with grapefruits, grapes and apricots — green and citrusy. And the malts! They’re in there, and they’re sweet; modestly sitting underneath the hops. Sure, the beer isn’t balanced — far more hops hit the nose than malts, but, that’s the point, Stoopid!

Taste:

Take everything I’ve said about trees, dank, fruit and hops. Now, put the ingredients in a blender, add liquid, and hit blend. That’s how the beer tastes! It’s a mouthful, and very complex. The hops, though, stand out like your missing teeth in kindergarten pictures — they take over. The malts, however, like your adorable awkwardness in those pictures, draws attention away from the hops. Again, not a balanced beer, but that’s not what we want from Hop Stoopid.

Mouthfeel:

To be honest, this is what motivated the geography imagery. Why? Well, at first, the beer is sharp (carbonation), pointed, almost stings, and is overwhelming. Quickly, though, the sharpness is overcome by the medium-thickness of the malts. A honey-like texture moves from the front of the mouth, across the tongue, to the back of the throat. Then you notice a nice, light and hoppy texture has stayed on the palette. This complex feel made me think of stratification. Like when you see layers of sediment, that’s how the beer feels in the mouth: layered and full of goodness.

Drinkability:

Here’s a warning: EAT FOOD WITH THIS BEER. I drank this beer after long day. I was tired and didn’t have much in my stomach. Needless to say I was loopy after finishing the 22oz bottle. I’ve had this beer with food before, and it mellowed out the 8% abv. The 102 IBU rating feels less than 102. I think the taste buds go into shock after the first taste, because the strong, bitter flavor quickly mellows. If you love beer that makes your face turn inside out, this is the beer for you. Now let’s push for its canonization.

Final Notes:

I don’t have a food recommendation (see above!), but I imagine butternut squash would go well with this beer. It feels like a good pairing. And, for those of you who may not know, Lagunitas uses hop extracts rather than hop flowers to make this beer. Think orange juice concentrate, but with hops. A friend suggested BBQ, in that the energy that Stoopid offers caters to spicier sauces. The spice of the food is easily contraindicated by the high sugar content in the beer (an excellent reference to this is from Dan Gordon of Gordon Biersch Brewing Company, in an interview on The Brewing Network’s Sunday Session podcast dated 01/31/10) .

The end result may bring the realization of Steno’s Horizontality, but the complexity of Hop Stoopid yields a strange world of possibilities.

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Old Rasputin Russian Stout -

North Coast Brewing Company – Fort Bragg, CA.

http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/

It’s been said that Rasputin, the Russian mystic, was able to discredit the government of Tsar Nicholas II, thus bringing down the Romanov dynasty in 1917. And it’s been said that Rasputin was called a “holy man” and “religious prophet” by both the tsar and his lovely wife, Tsaritsa Alexandra.

Even more, it’s been said that Tsaritsa Alexandra believed that God almighty spoke through her beloved Rasputin, the devout Man of God. And it’s also been said that Tsarevich Alexei, the young son of Mr. Tsar and Mrs. Tsaritsa, suffered from hemophilia and that Rasputin the healer was able to attenuate the young boy’s pain through prayer.

And finally, it’s been said that Rasputin was practically immortal, suffering from poison, four shots to the body (including one to the forehead), abominable beatings and castration, before finally dying from drowning in the Neva River.

Well, there’s been many things said about many people, and all I know is that evidence leads me to believe that none of the above matters much to my implacable taste buds, because Old Rasputin, the one-of-a-kind Russian Imperial Stout from North Coast Brewery, is insanely delicious.

Pour and Color:

There aren’t many beers that get my rocks off just from pouring its contents into a glass, but this, my dear friends, gives me shivers. To use “pour” is almost derogatory, because it’s like the beer walks seductively on ebony legs instead. The color is dark brown to black, and light has no chance of squeezing its way through the beer’s opacity. A nice two-fingered tan head stayed for a few minutes, then relaxed into a subtle, cappuccino-like crema on top. Lacing stayed throughout the entire beer, and if given a light twirl, a thicker head would easily form again.

Smell:

The aroma is a very strong and complex yet balanced array of coffee, roasted malts, chocolate, fruityness/sweetness from the hops, and, of course, our friend, Al Co Hall. Even more impressive than the complexity is that the various scents seem to linger in the nose, which adds to the overall strength.

Taste:

If a beer is ever going to be called sexy, this is it. Yes, it is very strong (9% ABV), but, after a couple of sips, you’ve been placated enough, and each sip is increasingly smoother than the previous one. It’s rich, with the first tastes being heavy on dark chocolate malts. As this dissipates, you begin to taste the coffee and espresso flavors with a bit of sweetness. Then the fruity flavor from the hops (75 IBU) kicks in, stays on the palette for a long time, and balances out the sweetness and malts.

Mouthfeel:

The beer starts out subtle and soft, but then it becomes heavy, creamy and silky. It is probably average carbonation for Imperial Stouts, and has a density similar to milk (might be good in your breakfast cereal, eh!).

Drinkability:

I wouldn’t say this beer is as heavy as some Imperial Stouts, making it easier to have another after the first. The flavor itself makes me want drink about ten of these every time I have one, and sometimes I even think about bowing down to the beer.  At 9% ABV you might want be take it slow, caress your brain and walking abilities, and drink just a couple.

Final Notes:

I had this beer with baked chicken in white wine and balsamic vinegar, with green bell pepper, onion, and eggplant. I used garlic powder, pepper, and cumin for spices. On the side was a dish of red lentils and brown rice, cooked in water and a hint of tomato sauce. The beer worked very well with this dish, and neither the flavors from the beer or the food took over. It was a wonderful meal.

- this review dedicated to @Homebrewchef – Mr. Sean Paxton. Thanks for your time, Sean.

Nathan Moya is a writer devoted to drinking extraordinary beer. You can contact him at:
abecedarianly@gmail.com. Beer hopes to hear from him. And he from you. Cheers.